


On the Shoreline

by skiron



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Comfort, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:09:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25729474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skiron/pseuds/skiron
Summary: He's a good boy, deep down.Written as part of Gentron Week 2020 for the prompt "Telepathic Bond"
Relationships: Lance & Blue Lion (Voltron)
Kudos: 24
Collections: Gentronweek





	On the Shoreline

When she wants to comfort him, she sends him the sea. The sound of the waves against the shore. The warmth of the sand beneath his feet. The whisper of the salt spray across his skin. The sea grounds him in a way nothing else can, and she knows that by now, knows this boy who came to her all made of fear masquerading as bravado, of anxiety passing itself off as humor. She knows now that beneath the tangle of fear -- of raw nerves all frayed at the edges -- lies a core of longing. Longing for acceptance, for recognition, for love, and yes, for comfort. 

Lance has grown since she’s known him. He’s still loud and brash, sometimes outwardly cocky in ways that jab at the others until they cause miniature explosions -- flashbangs that she registers on the edges of her awareness whether he’s nearby or not. But he’s also allowed himself to be soft, on occasion, to feel what he might, regardless of whether the others are present or not, to crack open the mask a bit. She likes to think she’s had some part in that. 

She recognized that core of softness in him before he even came to her back in the desert cave, and she’s watched it grow from a tiny spark of something into a warm glow that lives within him. Now he armors himself with hugs and reassurances of support from Hunk, with affirmations of his skills from Shiro, with moments of truly friendly competition with Keith and Pidge, both on and off the field, with sincere true laughter from them all, such a different sound from the sneers and snickers he’s known in past friendships. And these days the firelight of kindness they’ve nurtured often shines through the sharp ridges of his shell, whether he wills it to or not.

His fraying nerves haven’t healed entirely; they’ve had years to become as worn as they are, and not nearly as long to begin to knit back together. In his tensest moments, that fact becomes abundantly clear. The buzzing of his anxieties still sits just below his skin, and when he feels he might vibrate out of existence, she can feel it too. She feels it as a humming in the back of her consciousness, one she’s sure is much louder and more overwhelming in his. And when she feels it there, she sends him the sea. She sends him the sea, and she can sense the rhythm of his lungs slow in time with the crashing of the waves. She sends him the sea, and she can feel the tingling in his skin calm with the warmth of the sand on the shore and the breath of the ocean mist. The sea is home to her boy in a way that Blue cannot help but understand, for it is home to her, too. 


End file.
